IMPROVEMENTS IN FEA OF COMPOSITE OVERWRAPPEDPRESSURE VESSELS

摘要

Finite element analysis (FEA) of a composite overwrapped pressure vessel (COPV) hastraditionally been a tedious and time consuming task. FEA is often omitted in the developmentof many vessels in favor of a “build and burst” philosophy based only on preliminary design withnetting analysis. This is particularly true for small vessels or vessels that are not weight critical.The primary difficulty in FEA of a COPV is the creation of the model geometry on the sub-plylevel. This paper discusses employing a commercially available tool to drastically reduce thetime required to build a COPV FEA model. This method produces higher fidelity models in onlyslightly more time. Analysis results are presented along with comparisons to burst test data.Additionally the application that inspired this tool’s development is discussed.